Book Review: Wolfsbane + GIVEAWAY

Ladies and gentlemen, I now present you with my book review for my most anticipated book release of 2011.  This book is #3 in the Discarded Heroes series, by Ronie Kendig, and if you recall my review of book #2, Digitalis, you know that there was quite the expectation that this one needed to live up to.  So, let's get on with it, shall we?

Wolfsbane

by Ronie Kendig

Published July 2011

Barbour Publishing, Inc.

320 pages

ISBN: 1602607842

Fiction

From the Publisher:
Embark upon a danger-laden mission within the pages of Ronie Kendig's riveting Wolfsbane. Demolitions expert Danielle Roark thought escaping from a brutal Venezuelan general was a challenge. Now she's charged with espionage and returned to the jungle where a new nightmare begins. Will Dani survive or become just another political pawn destined to be lost forever? Former Green Beret Canyon Metcalfe is disgusted with the suits on Capitol Hill. Still wrestling with the memories of a mission gone bad, he and Nightshade launch a mission to find Dani. Can Canyon rescue Dani, armed with nothing but raw courage?

My Review:
Wow!  That seems to be what I say whenever I finish one of Ronie Kendig's books.  I'm not even sure where to begin this one...but simply put: this book ROCKED my world!  Ronie continues to amaze me with her depth of characters and plot, her heartfelt writing and her ever present message of faith.  She just keeps getting better and better.

In the previous books, Canyon is known as "the quiet and easy-going one", yet there were so many things that caught me by surprise in this book as we get to know him.  My favorite scene is when the Nightshade team has returned from their failed mission.  Canyon is in the hospital and he realizes that Dani isn’t with them.  He’s struggling to overcome his addiction, he’s riddled with guilt and he basically goes crazy.  He starts a fight with Max (never a good idea) and breaks down in tears with the weight of the world on his shoulders.  The emotion in this book was off the charts!  Ronie has a talent for making her heroes SO, SO flawed and SO real, yet in the end, they always realize that God is in control and loves them. 

Ronie possesses the unique skill of capturing the readers attention and provided a vivid background.  I adore how she can transport the reader from a family get-together in the backyard, to being stuck in a Hummer during a mudslide in Venezula, to a secluded hotel room and even to a tense court room hearing.   I really feel like I’m there and apart of the story.  Plus, probably what I loved most about this book is that her characters deal with “real” issues and make “real” mistakes.  This isn’t your typical walk-in-the-park,  boy-meets-girl/they-fall-in-love, Christian Fiction.  This book brings up suicide, sex slavery, addiction and premarital sex.  That's raising the bar, and Ronie nailed it!

After Digitalis, I didn’t think this would happen…but Wolfsbane is my new favorite of the series!  I highly recommend it.  Go out and buy this book now.  Or if you live near me, come over and I’ll let you borrow it!  January 2012 cannot get here quick enough and I can’t even being to imagine how awesome Firethorn is going to be.  Many thanks to Ronie Kendig for providing me with a signed copy of this book (I won a giveaway!  Whoop, whoop!)  Sara’s Rating: 6 out of 5 stars…yea, this one was that good too!

The GIVEAWAY:

I was extremely lucky to win the whole Discarded Heroes series by Ronie Kendig; however, I already owned copies of Nightshade and Digitalis, so....I've decided to give them away!!  I’ll be randomly selecting one lucky reader to win these two fabulous books.  Here's what you need to do!

To enter (main entry) -

Leave a comment telling me why you love Ronie Kendig's books or if you haven't read any yet, why you are looking forward to reading them. Don't forget to include your email address!

For ONE bonus entry - Head over to Twitter and tweet the following statement:

"@saraboff is giving away copies of @roniekendig's Nightshade & Digitalis and I want to win!  http://goo.gl/2Sras”

Then, leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

For ONE more bonus entry -

Head over to Ronie's website, RonieKendig.com, and leave a comment telling me what your favorite thing about it is!  It could be anything - the blog, the font, her bio - anything.  I personally like the different page titles, but let me know what you think is cool.

Good luck!

**Contest closes for entries July 16, 2011, 11:59pm PST. Winner will be chosen using random.org on July 17 and notified via the email address left in their comment. If I do not hear back from the winner after 48 hours, another name will be drawn....cause if you snooze, you lose!

CSN Stores Product Review – Food Storage Set & Wood Turner

About a month ago, the generous people at CSN Stores contacted me to see if I wanted to do a product review.  You mean, received a free product and then blog about how I like it?  Sign me up!

CSN Stores are great to work with and in the past, they have allowed me to host my dog-gone giveaway, my gift card giveaway and my cooking giveaway, plus I’ve done one product review in the past.  They  have millions of products, so if you’re in need of something new, head on over to their website and I’m sure you’ll find what you need.  And now onto my review…

I had a certain amount that my product could cost, so using my frugal shopping skills I selected two different items.  Woo hoo!  The first thing that I selected was the Fresh Keeper 31 Piece Citrus Organizer Set with Lid.  Jeremy and I always use storage containers for leftovers and lunches, but our current collection is a smörgåsbord of containers.  Until now!  These Fresh Keeper containers are awesome.  They come in a variety of sizes ranging from 8 cups to 3/4 cups.  Plus, they are so cute!  Look at the fun colors.  But perhaps the coolest thing is the rim of the containers…I couldn’t get that close of a picture, so you’ll have to believe me when I tell you that along the rim are little tick marks and the months of the year.  Coincidently, there is a little arrow/point on each lid.  Therefore, you can align the lid with the correct date on the container, and just like magic, you know when you put those leftovers in the fridge!  Isn’t that cool?  Really, you should have seen how excited I was when I figured that out.  These containers are freezable, microwavable and dish washer safe.  Love them!

My second item was the Paula Deen 2 Piece Slotted Wood Turner Set.  I only have two wooden spoons, so when I saw these I thought that they would be a good addition to my kitchen tool collection.  I’ve been using these mostly to break up and brown meat and they work great.  I like how they are flat and more like a spatula, than a spoon.  Plus, they are very sturdy material and I’m not worried about them breaking while I’m stirring/cooking something (true story, it happened to me before and I had to dig through the food looking for the missing piece of wooden spoon!).  Love them!

So, there you have it.  Two great products and a great opportunity from CSN Stores.  Thanks for the opportunity to do this product review!

We Have a Winner!!

Thanks for all who entered my dog-gone giveaway!  I’m glad that so many of you love your dog as much as Jeremy and I do.  Dogs are just fabulous!  So, I have selected an entry at random using the Random.org generator…and the lucky winner is entry #7, who happens to be KAYLA!!

Kayla happens to be part of the infamous, Jayla, who you see mentioned on this blog numerous times!  She is also the proud mom of Diesel’s friend’s, one enormous Mastiff, named Nico and a big mix breed, named Alfie.  Congratulations, my friend!  I hope the boys enjoy this sweater and new toy!

Thanks again for all who entered!  Hopefully, I’ll be able to have another one in the future.  Stay tuned this weekend for another fun post…somebody's birthday is coming up! :)

It’s a Dog-Gone GIVEAWAY!!

As most of you can see, Jeremy and I love our puppy, Diesel.  Ever since we got him last April, he has dominated our blog and that’s just fine with me.  He makes us laugh, he makes us scream and he makes us spend $1000s of dollars to remove objects from his belly.  True story!  In fact it happened just a few days ago.

Saturday morning, Diesel starting throwing up.  As usual, I thought he just ate something funky (hey, it wouldn't be the first time!) and it’d come up eventually.  Well unfortunately, the puking didn’t stop so I took him to the vet.  After some x-rays, it was soon determined that Diesel had a blockage in his small intestines and that he needed to have surgery to remove it!  Oh no! 

Jeremy and I were so worried about our little guy, but of course, they surgery went well, the object was removed (it was a piece of cow hoof that he decided to swallow, instead of chew) and he spent the night at the vet.  When I picked him up the next morning, the nurse said that when she came in that morning, she found Diesel in his kennel, with his buster collar and he was chewing on his IV.  Yep, that’s our boy!  

Anyway, he’s doing a lot better, his incision is healing nicely and we’re having to keep constant vigilance on him, in order to make sure that he doesn’t run or jump.  So, in honor of Diesel recovering well…how about a GIVEAWAY!?!

That’s right!  The fabulous people at CSN Stores contacted me asking if I was interested in hosting a GIVEAWAY.  Well, of course, I am!  This company has a ton of great websites with items from cookware, to house numbers, to obviously, pet products!  You, my lucky reader, can soon become the winner of this lovely doggie sweater and this entertaining dog toy!  *Please note that the dogs are not included with the GIVEAWAY. :)

Cute, huh?!  I’ll be randomly selecting one lucky reader to win these two items.  You can enter up to 3 times by Wednesday, January 27th at 12pm AZ (PST) time and here’s how you enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me what why you love your dog.

2. Tweet the following: “@saraboff is having a Dog-Gone GIVEAWAY and I want to win! http://bit.ly/5qD4XZ,” then, leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

3. Blog: If you have a blog of your own, mention my giveaway in a post, then leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

That’s it!  Good luck!